Kevin Kiley-Kermit Jones race for Congress is a fight over gasoline taxes
A Kevin Kiley campaign ad says Kermit Jones wants to “raise the gas tax even higher.”
Jones, Kiley’s Democratic opponent for the Third District congressional seat, says he wants no such thing, and never has.
Kiley, a Republican, cites support for Jones by groups sympathetic to the higher taxes — even though Jones has consistently sought a pause in gas taxes.
Gasoline taxes matter in this congressional race, as prices flirt with record highs in California. The issue also illustrates a classic quandry that candidates can face: getting endorsements from interest groups that don’t completely align with their views.
Kiley, for example, has been endorsed by the California ProLife Council and Right to Life Federation. Both organizations oppose abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger.
But that’s not Kiley’s position.
“Kevin does not want to ban all abortions,” campaign consultant Dave Gilliard said, “and he has never said that, nor has he ever voted to deny abortions to victims of rape and incest and when the life of the mother is at risk.”
Opponents routinely jump on differences between candidates and groups that endorse them, even though “it’s not fair to move from support of a broad agenda to a specific policy item,” explained Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at Washington’s Brookings Institution.
That makes it hard for voters to know who stands where.
“It can work,” West said of the tactic. “Most voters don’t know the detailed record of a candidate.”
Kiley, a Rocklin assemblyman, and Jones, a Navy veteran and family physician, are competing to represent the redrawn congressional district.
There’s no incumbent, but Kiley is regarded by independent analysts as the favorite. The district runs from Plumas County, through Sacramento’s suburbs, into parts of El Dorado County and down to Inyo County.
Higher gas taxes?
Kiley has made suspending the state’s 53.9 cents per gallon gas tax a top priority even though Congress has no control over state gas taxes.
The federal gasoline tax is now 18.4 cents per gallon. The issue is huge, as California motorists pay the highest average gasoline prices in the country.
The issue came up when Jones and Kiley debated this spring. Jones has supported a pause in the federal and state tax.
“We need to actually consider pausing the gas tax,” Jones said during the debate involving the candidates for the Third Congressional District seat.
“I’m glad that Mr. Jones supports that proposal,” said Kiley.
Asked about how he could praise Jones in the spring and criticize him for his position now, Gilliard said that since the debate, Jones has supported the Inflation Reduction Act, a Democratic-authored bill that Congress passed in August. Jones said he has not backed the Act.
The law imposes several tax increases that would affect oil and gas interests. Among them is a 16.4-cents-per-barrel levy on crude oil and petroleum products to help clean up Superfund environmental hazard sites. Critics say that fee will be passed on to consumers, increasing the price at the pump.
During the “John McGinness Show” on KFBK NewsRadio in Sacramento August 10, two days before the House vote on the plan, McGinness asked Jones, “Have you had a chance to look at it? And how would you be predisposed to vote on that if you were in the House today?”
Jones answered by associating himself with specific provisions of the law aimed at dramatically reducing the cost of drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. It would allow the government to negotiate drug prices for beneficiaries who have signed up for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, known as Medicare Part D.
He didn’t mention the oil-and-gas related taxes and did not say how he would vote on the wide-ranging bill. But Kiley’s campaign depicted Jones as supporting it.
“He certainly implies that he would,” Gilliard said.
The Jones campaign’s comment: “Kermit has never said he supported the Inflation Reduction Act. He’s defended the need for Medicare to be able to negotiate lower and fairer drug prices,” said campaign manager Michaela Kurinsky-Malos.
Jones and group support
The Kiley campaign also cited how Jones is backed by groups that it says seek higher taxes. This is also a bit of a reach.
“Kermit is being funded through GiveGreen.com and is endorsed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters Action Fund,” Gilliard said.
The groups, Gilliard said, “advocate for higher gas taxes and fees and elimination of domestic oil production. They do not endorse candidates who disagree with their agenda.”
GiveGreen is a joint effort of the other two groups that raises and contributes money to candidates. It does not take policy positions.
Asked if the League of Conservation Voters supports an increase, Craig Auster, that group’s vice president for political affairs, said, “I do not believe we have ever said that.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, the organization’s political arm, has not endorsed higher gasoline taxes, nor does it ask candidates their stance on the tax when considering endorsements. The group does not have a litmus test for candidates and those people it endorses do not always agree completely with its view.
The Kiley campaign noted that the two groups supported the Green New Deal, a 2018 plan to convert the nation to renewable energy and 100% zero emissions. Critics have blasted the plan as too costly and full of requirements that consumers and industry would have trouble meeting.
A 2019 frequently asked questions document from the office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, one of the Green New Deal’s leading advocates, was obtained by the Washington Post. It mentioned a higher carbon tax, calling it a “tiny part” of the plan. It did not discuss gasoline taxes.
NRDC said it “strongly supports the Green New Deal goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas pollution, with social and economic justice at the core of the solution,” but did not comment on specifics. LCV supported the congressional resolution on the Green New Deal, which did not list specific revenue raising possibilities.
The congresswoman said the comments were only a draft. They were not in the resolution that was ultimately introduced, a plan that went nowhere in Congress..
This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
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